The Place of Tides

Some years ago I wrote in this newsletter about James Rebanks’ book The Shepherd’s Life, published in 2015. I loved his descriptions of running a farm in England’s Lake District and working with his sheep. Two years ago, he wrote a new book, The Place of Tides which is completely different but also fascinating. On a visit to Norway many years ago, James had met and been impressed by an elderly woman who spent months on a remote island creating nests for Eider ducks and then collecting the down. This was a centuries old trade that was in decline, and Anna Måsøy had decided to do her bit to ensure the tradition continued. James was feeling restless and exhausted and needed something new in his life. He writes to Anna, asking if he can join her on the island at the edge of the Arctic, in the Vega archipelago, and assist her in tending the ducks. Anna tells him he can come.

The time he spends with Anna is therapeutic for James, a great help to her in what will be her last season of this work as she is growing frail, and a heartwarming story of a friendship between people from very different worlds, who have a language barrier to surmount. The book has lyrical descriptions of the island, its stormy seas and harsh terrain, and I learned more than I ever thought I would know about Eider ducks. We all use the term ‘eiderdown’ for a warm cover on a bed, but one that has actually been made from the Eider’s downy feathers, used to keep the eggs warm in the nest, is something I have never even seen, let alone slept under. I became as intrigued as James by the life of a Norwegian ‘duck woman’.

The time on the island makes James more aware of priorities and what really matters in his life. It’s a time of both escape and self-discovery for him. By watching Anna and hearing of what has happened in her life, he learns about himself. Although a non-fiction book, this is not a book full of facts, but more a focus on a challenging way of life, what tradition means to a community and what disappears when that tradition stops, and it’s a book about a wild landscape. James wrote so beautifully about the Lake District, where his farm is a long way from the sea. On the island he is surrounded by water, watches the sea and its birds and wildlife with curiosity, and again writes of it evocatively.